IT’S HARD TO recall an Irish team going to France to take on a club in worse shape than Brive, the second-ever winners of the Heineken Cup, find themselves in at the moment.

That 28-9 win over Leicester Tigers in the 1997 Heineken Cup final in front of 41,662 at the Arms Park in Cardiff must seem a very long time ago now for the beleaguered Brive fans.

They have done well along with a few other small-town clubs such as Castres, Pau and Bayonne to hang in there as the big bucks have come into the professional game and seen big entities emerge in the large urban areas such as Lyon, Bordeaux and Montpellier.

Like a lot of clubs striving to survive — Brive has a population of just under 50,000 and no other major sport — they have dropped down to Pro D2 a few times but, unlike some former champions such as Narbonne, Beziers, Agen and Tarbes, they have managed to bounce back.

Their latest reincarnation came under the guidance of former Lions and Irish international Jeremy Davidson who got them promoted in his first season in charge in 2018.

But it has all gone wrong this season. Davidson was fired in October after they were thrashed 45-7 at home to Toulouse. That came a week after they lost 47-0 away to Toulon.

The Toulouse defeat was their fifth in seven games at the start of the season, the only respite coming in a 17-6 win away to fellow relegation candidates Perpignan and a 25-22 success at home to Bayonne.

One of Davidson’s assistants, Arnaud Mela, was promoted to the top job. Mela, capped in the second row a handful of times by France, had spent nine years playing with Brive.

But hopes that he was going to work some magic weren’t long being dashed. The Connacht game this weekend will be his seventh. The previous six have all ended in defeats, two of them without registering a score.

Four of the losses, in fairness, have been away from home and with Clermont Auvergne coming to Stade Amédée-Domenech next weekend, it’s easy to see how they are targeting Connacht for a badly needed win.

Understandable, too, that Connacht director of rugby Andy Friend is preaching caution, despite his side on a good run of five wins in their last seven games after an horrendous start.

“We know it’s a tough task going over to France,” said Friend. “Brive are a struggling side at the moment but they’re a proud side and have played some rugby this year and in previous years.

“We want to get to the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup,” added Friend. “There is genuine depth amongst the squad now. That competition can shape our season now. We said we want to reach the knock-out stages.”

But with Brive bringing in record Argentina top points scorer Nicholas Sanchez from Stade Francais and three former Connacht players in their ranks, Friend knows they won’t get anything easy at Stade Amédée-Domenech.

Friend has made it clear he’s using this competition to give opportunities to fringe players but this clash in Brive is also being used to get some badly needed game-time into Bundee Aki as they prepare for a crunch URC clash against Ulster next week.

Bundee Aki. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

That clash with Ulster next weekend could be season-defining and Friend needs Aki — and injury doubt Mack Hansen — firing on all cylinders for that game in the Sportsground.

Aki has played only minimal competitive rugby this season after getting sent off 10 minutes after coming off the bench in his seasonal bow against the Stormers back in September.

He was given an eight-week ban for the third red card of his career, later reduced by a week after he underwent a head contact educational programme, which saw him miss the majority of Ireland’s autumn series.

He played 80 minutes against Munster and Benetton and will start alongside Tom Daly in a strong centre partnership as they bid to back up their opening round 22-8 win over Newcastle Falcons.

Aki’s return is among eight changes with two former Irish U20s, tighthead Sam Illo and lock Darragh Murray, making their Connacht debuts. Illo joined Connacht last year from the Leinster academy while Roscommon native Murray is a younger brother of Niall, who is on the bench for this one.

Brive, who were hammered 41-0 last weekend in Cardiff, have a few other familiar faces on board including former French U20 World Cup winner Daniel Brennan, son of former Irish international Trevor, who starts at loosehead.

And then there are three ex-Connacht players— centre Sammy Arnold, No.8 Abraham Papali’i and tighthead Tietie Tuimauga — who will be hoping to do a number on their former side.

This is the fourth season Brive and Connacht have clashed in the pool stages of the Challenge and it’s been even so far. Brive did the double on Connacht in 2007-08, each of them won their home game in 2015-16, and Connacht won both ties in 2017-18.

Brive: Seta Tuicuvu; Kevin Fabien, Nico Lee, Sam Arnold, Wesley Douglas; Nicolas Sanchez, Paul Abadie; Daniel Brennan, Florian Dufour, Tietie Tuimauga; Renger van Eerten, Tevita Ratuva; Retief Marais, Said Hireche (c), Abraham Papali’i.

Replacements: Vano Karkadze, Nathan Fraissenon, Pietro Ceccarelli, Julien Delannoy, Matthieu Voisin, Enzo Sanga, Tom Raffy, Thomas Laranjeira.

Connacht: Conor Fitzgerald; Adam Byrne, Bundee Aki, Tom Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen; David Hawkshaw, Kieran Marmion; Peter Dooley, Shane Delahunt, Sam Illo; Darragh Murray, Gavin Thornbury; Oisin Dowling, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle (c).

Replacements: David Heffernan, Jordan Duggan, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Niall Murray, Ciaran Booth, Colm Reilly, Byron Ralston, Oran McNulty.

Referee: Adam Leal (England).